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She said it right here, half a dozen times or more. You’ve seen it. We all have. She says that she’s done everything she can to keep third parties from selling her former authors’ books. Crying from the mountain tops that she’s innocent, her hands are clean, and there’s just nothing else she can do. Honest!

Bullshit.

Setting up distribution channels for my own book this week, I discovered that the ability for third parties to sell a book is controlled with a single click.
By selecting that option, well, you can read it.

That’s it. One click. In order for your books to be available to third parties, she had to click on that button when she was choosing distribution channels for your book.

And guess what. To disable your books from being available to third parties for sale, all she has to do is go back and click that option again to turn it off. That’s it. Just that easy. So when she cries innocence, keep that picture in mind. She’s lying.

She didn’t turn off your books for resale by third parties, like she claims. If she had, you wouldn’t still be seeing them, on either foreign or domestic markets. In fact, she knew ahead of time that she was going to continue to exploit you before she ever “published” you. How do you know that? Because she clicked that option in t he first place.

Think about that.

While she was smiling to your face and promising you the moon, she was setting you up to rip you off. And keep ripping you off.

Think about this, too. She insisted that she didn’t earn any money from third party sales. Remember that? Now read that option again. Third parties pay less – wholesale – but they do pay. They may be buying directly from Createspace, or, to quote her, “access your catalog,” but the publisher still gets paid. Did you?

Didn’t think so.

If you haven’t already yanked your books, you can contact Createspace and make them turn that option off. You can yank it and republish it yourself. And when you do, make sure not to choose that option. If you do, you’re begging her to keep ripping you off.

And don’t worry. You won’t be cutting yourself off from any potential sales. If people want to buy your book, there’s no problem with them buying it from you. You’ve got your own listing. They don’t need to buy it from some dodgy third party.

I just ordered a physical proof of my new book. But looking at the digital proof, it looks like they’ve got the author name wrong, and the title page seems to be missing. So It’s not available to the public yet. But it’s exciting business, nonetheless.

This is the first time I’ve self-published through Amazon, so I had to learn the process. And I’ve got to say that nothing could be easier. You upload your files, they put your book together and present you with a digital proof. You can also order a physical copy, which I did, just to make sure how it looks before I send it out to market. And when that happens, this blog is not where I’ll talk about it. More information about that will happen when it comes time for it.

The point, here, is that when they give it to you, you can look at your digital proof and go through every single page and see what it will look like. EXACTLY what it’ll look like. None of this “approximate” business.
Anybody who’s ever read a book online, or even read the “look inside” feature of a book for sale on amazon, can easily review a digital preview of their book. It’s easier than falling down drunk in a plastic bathtub. A monkey could do it.

So what astounds me is how any self-proclaimed ‘publisher’ could crank out an author’s book without previewing it for errors. It’s the easiest thing in the world, yet we see books that look like crap because nobody bothered to format or correct them. We’ve seen books with whole pages missing. Different fonts (sizes, scripts, italics, etc), spacing issues, you name it, produced by a “publisher” of an author’s work.

I don’t just mean an error here or that that a fledgeling publisher pays out of pocket to fix on the spot. Those are growing pains that could happen to anybody that hasn’t published before.

No.

I’m talking about a publisher that’s been in the business for years, taking money from authors for services that are sorely lacking. It’s more than obvious that those files were uploaded without the benefit of editing, formatting, or even a run-through by a beta. Anybody with two eyes would catch those errors. Certainly, any publisher worth a damn would. That’s who’s responsible for the book, after all. The publisher. Not the author. Their job is done. Not the editor. Their job’s done, too. It’s the publisher that’s responsible when a book turns out looking like crap.

What kind of a publisher is so unprofessional, greedy and flat-out LAZY that they couldn’t even be bothered to preview a book before sending it out to distribution channels?

Oh. Right.

Well, kids. I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t be afraid to publish your own work. You don’t need some lazy, greedy, sloppy, drunk, stoned waste of skin taking your money from you. You can publish your own book on Amazon just as easily as uploading a photo on Facebook. That’s literally all you do. You upload your interior – the book itself, as a .pdf, or even as a word .doc. They convert it into a .pdf for you! And creating a cover is easy as pie, too. You can either upload a cover you make – they have a template you can download. You tell them the size of your book (5×8, 6×9, whatever) and how tmany pages there are, and they give you a template for exactly how to design your book. Back cover, spine, and front cover. All you do is fill it in! Or you have your cover artist fill it in for you.

Or, if you’re not really artistically inclined, or can’t afford a cover artist, they have a tool right in the setup process that walks you through a cover creator.

That’s it. Upload your book. Upload (or create) your cover, and that’s IT. They take a day to review your files to make sure everything matches up, and email you when it’s ready for you to preview.

Take a look at it. Make sure your cover looks good. Flip through every single page to make sure they look good, too. It’s simple.

And please don’t settle. Don’t be in such a rush that you think little things can be overlooked. Don’t be afraid to make changes. If a single thing is out of place, you can change it until it’s perfect. You can redo the cover, add a blank page, add a title page or whatever you think needs to be tweaked. There’s no pressure. You set your own timeline.

Then, when everything is perfect, enable your distribution channels. And even that is as simple as the click of a button. It really is. I’ve never encouraged you guys specifically, because I hadn’t gone through the process myself. I’ve told you that you should, but couldn’t give you any advice about how.

I don’t mind telling you, when I previewed my next book today, it was exciting. It was thrilling. It was addictive. I can’t wait to do it again. And I’m excited for you to feel it for yourselves. So many of you have had crappy experiences with Drunk-Sluts-R-Us publishing frauds. You’ve felt the heartbreak. Well, believe me when I tell you that the instant you see your own pages, that YOU made, that YOU put together and made happen, all the heartbreak will disappear. Just that fast.

I can’t wait to congratulation you, and celebrate that feeling of elation with you.

Who do you suppose it was, and what do you think they were looking for?

If I were an optimist, I’d say that it was the boy toy coming to his senses and taking our advice, looking back through this archive of exactly what and who his “woman” really is.

If I had a sense of humor, I’d say that it was her lawyer, snapping evidence for her law “suite” against all of us.

If I were a realist, I’d say that it was the troll herself, hovering over the keyboard, poring over every word, all the way back, taking screencaps, babbling “I’ll get you, bitches, and your little dog, too.” Probably on a bender that started sometime yesterday.

Troy, hon, we know how it works. Tabetha trolls this blog, pores over every word, then pitches fits about it. She yells, screams, bitches, pisses, moans, throws things, breaks stuff, and doesn’t stop until ‘somebody’ comes running to her defense, whether it’s somebody real or somebody she makes up. We get it.

We also know that, even if it’s your fingers on the keys (this time), it’s Tab’s words you’re writing. She stood over your shoulder – when she wasn’t pacing behind you, foaming at the mouth – telling you what to say. And how to say it.

How do we know? Because we’ve been around longer than you have. Because we’ve known her longer. Because we know her better than you do. Because some of us have been you. Yeah, the guys she’s used briefly, just like you, they’re here too. Friends that have sat in the exact same chair you sat in when she stood behind them, telling them what to say. They’re here, too. And people who have helped her figure out how to reply to us coherently because she can’t string a sentence together on her own, going back more years than you’ll know her, they’re here, too. Yeah. We know her. We know how she works.

Nice try, dude. I hope it got her off your back for a while, posting in her defense. I hope you got a few minute’s peace from her temper tantrums by giving in to her obsessed demands. But don’t fool yourself for a minute. We know how she works.

Do you want to know how else we know? Because of what you she said. With all of the serious allegations going around about her, look at what she chooses to address. 1) That you write your own posts. We know better. We know what she talks about and how she says it. We know that she has a penchant for defending herself using other people’s voices (real or imagined). Give it up. 2) That you’re not leaving her. She kicks up the biggest “We’re really HAPPY together! HONEST!” fuss the most when she knows that the end is near. So this proclamation of your undying love for her reads like so many others before you. I hope this means that you’re coming to your senses. Your life will be so much better without all that drama, manipulation, and potential for federal charges. 3) That people are “telling lies.” You must know by now that these truths are only “lies” because they fly in the face of her delusions. She spins a great yarn about how everybody hates her, is jealous, whatever, but it’s flimsy. Take a good look and you’ll see right through it. 4) Tweety Bird. Dude, our little Birdy is a target for Tab because s/he gets it right. S/he knows Tab MUCH better than you realize, and if you’re a smart man, you’ll realize that the only reason Tab’s bitching about him/her is because s/he’s right on the money when it comes to your Queen Dragon, light of your life, soulmate, princess, whatever she’s calling herself this week.

Then again, if you’re a wise man, you’re realize that there are scant few reasons you’re in her life to begin with. 1) First and foremost, your disability check. She’s gotta pay those bills. 2) Secondly, you’re a hand-picked patsy. With your criminal history, you’re the perfect fall guy for whatever she wants to pin on you. Fraud for her business, check-cashing federal offenses, anything she can pin on you, she will. Watch. 3) Sympathy. After you come to your senses and leave her (and you WILL leave her), she’ll claim that you abused her. She was too terrified for her safety and the safety of her precious little girt to tell the truth, but you abused her in such horrible ways. And with your past, don’t you think people will believe her? Of course they will. She’s counting on it. That’s what she does. She’s accused every single guy she’s lived with of abusing her. You want to play the “ask me” game? Well, ask THEM. She said that James tied her down and whipped her with straps, beat and raped her. in front of her daughter. That he kidnapped both of them, locking them in a room and only let them come out to eat and use the bathroom. She said that Eric beat her in front of her daughter. She said that Josh tied her up and choked her. Said that he shoved his manhood down her throat until she choked and vomited. I, personally, wouldn’t broadcast it if I couldn’t give a proper blow job, but she was going for sympathy. It backfired. All she accomplished was proving that she can’t even give good head. I feel for ya, dude. She posed for pictures displaying bruises that she would later claim were abuse. Too bad he was smarter than she gave him credit for.Josh was ahead of her, getting her on tape agreeing to play bondage games. So her claims that she abused him were nullified.
And, don’t forget her claims of being a biker bitch who’s affiliated with a 1% motorcycle club. Yet not one of the guys that she says abused her have stopped breathing. They don’t have a mark on them. Are we supposed to believe that her biker buddies would let one of their own get treated like that without any repercussions? I hope you’re smarter than she’s giving you credit for, too, dude. I really do. Because with a history like yours, cries of abuse lean seriously in her favor. Her past of crying wolf goes against her, but why take that chance? 4) To threaten us. She picks up bad boys that she uses to threaten her “haters” – people that dare tell the truth about her. Eric was an ex marine Special Ops sniper that could take us out and we’d never see it coming. Josh was a bad-ass biker with ties to bikers that could/would come take care of us if we didn’t back off. And when she didn’t have a real swinging dick to pin it on, she made ’em up. At one point, she sicced her fantasy strippers on us, along with their boss who has ties to the Russian mafia. And let’s not forget the famous leg-breaker, Bo. The guy she made up to try to enforce a failed contract with Salena. The guy she screamed to her six year old daughter that he was going to put a bullet in mommy’s brain so she might as well kill herself. Tab’s words. Not just in front of her kid, but to her. And with you, she’s already dared us to Google your criminal history, letting us know in no uncertain terms that something bad could happen to us if we didn’t back off her. Are we sensing a pattern, yet? 5) To show off. “I have a man! I’m so fabulous! I’m such a great wife and mother!” That’s right, dude. You’re window dressing.6) A wild goose. More about that in a minute. 7) Bed-warmer. I put this one last, because that’s the least important thing you do for her. If she tells you you’re the best she’s ever had, that you’re the only man that makes her feel like a real woman, things like that, you need to realize that she’s reading from a script. It’s the same thing she says to every guy, appealing to his manhood and string him along. Yeah. We know the script. Too many guys have heard it before. You are so easily replaced in both her bed and her heart, that it’s not funny. After you hit the bricks, she’ll have another guy in her bed before the sheets even cool off. How long did it take her to hook up with you after Josh came to his senses?

I know what you were trying to say, but, just so you know, dissolution means the ending of a relationship, either business or personal. Freudian slip? A hint? Or just Tab throwing in a big word she doesn’t understand? Either way, it’s telling.

And take a look at the likes. Why would Troy “like” his own post? Was she behind it, after all? Did she type up the post herself after all, and then like it, making the mistake of not checking out of his account and back in on her own? Or, is it like usual, where the whole world has to go to her, but she reaches out to none? He likes some of her posts (or, more likely, she likes them herself using his account), but how often does she like his?

It’s no coincidence that she’s got you posting about the topics of her choice when the very real revelation about that payday loan and identity theft came to light. That’s her script, too. When something real and serious comes to light (that she’s a fraud, scam, thief, etc) comes out, with PROOF, she throws a hissy fit to try to change the subject. She’ll throw her sick mother under the bus – well, not anymore. She’ll throw her kid out on the internet to hide behind. She’ll even get her sister to fake a suicide attempt.

And, make no mistake, she’ll use you, too. This is where the wild goose comes in. Just like anything and everybody else in her life, she’ll use you to kick up a fuss to try and throw the scent off her. Just look at the timing. She threw fits and got you to post your assertion not even a whole day after it came out about that identity theft payday loan. You don’t really think that it’s a coincidence that she got a bug up her ass and cooked that up ? Of course not. It’s her trying to cover her ass with you. I hope you’re smart enough to see that.

The biggest tell of all that she dictated that post is the fact that you she called her(self) “Tabetha Willis Jones.” That’s what she calls herself to be daddy’s badass biker chick. I pretty much guarantee that you don’t call her by all those names. Only she does that. Busted.

Finally, that old, washed up failures crack? Yeah. That’s all Tab, too. You frankly don’t know us well enough to hold such a grudge that you’d take such a personal dig and try to call us failures. Or old. Or dried up. As a guy, you don’t care about any of the above. Only a woman holds such a deep-seeded grudge. E for effort, dude, but we know better.

Old? Maybe. Some of us. But none of us are ashamed of our ages. I’m not, anyway. I’ve fought for it. I’ve earned every minute. My age isn’t an insult. It’s a victory. Calling me old isn’t going to do anything but make me smile. Yup. I’m old. And?

Washed up? Hardly. Tab’s former victims are carving out their own niches in the literary world. More than one have created their own publishing ventures, and more still have carried on publishing their own works.

It takes time to recover from the particularly brutal brand of abuse Tabetha dishes out to friends, family, authors, boyfriends. You’ll find out. Some authors bounced back pretty quickly and carried on. My daughter published her book successfully after Tab dumped on her. So have others that thankfully dodged the bullet I, personally have projects coming up. So do others I could name. But I won’t. If they want their business made public before the fact, they can say so.

There are different definitions of failure. Tab’s definition may be “people who know the truth about me and have moved on to happier lives” as failures. But the rest of us more likely define success as: People who live happy, happy, healthy lives, physically and emotionally. People who work hard to take care of the people in their lives. People who lift others up with love and support instead of dragging others down. People who take care of themselves, their homes, their cars and everything else. People who treat others with honesty, dignity and integrity. People who work hard to earn their money.

Whatever your definition is, none of that last list above describes Tabetha Jones. So when she tries to label somebody else as a failure, hand her one of two things. A Mirror, or a picture of a pot and kettle.

There’s more than one type of scam in the publishing world. Sure, there are crooked “publishers” but there are also other cons to beware of. Contests. There are a TON of contests out there, for any kind of writing you can think of. And that’s well and good, if they’re on the up and up.

Some contests exist only to gather the fees an author pays to enter. Others are sneakier. They contact you and say that your submission was great, but didn’t win. So, since your work was so good, they offer to put it in an anthology. Great! But then they tell you that if you want a copy, you’ve got to buy it. And if you want your profile included, you have to pay even more. And if you want to buy copies for your friends and family, you can do that. At a slightly reduced price.

Don’t fall for it. It’s a scam. The only reason for the anthology is to get you, the author, to pay for books that it cost them nothing to publish.

Contests are a fine thing. They can help an author get notices, and wins look good on a resume. I’m not saying to avoid all of them. I’m just saying to research them. Google’s a good start, but the internet is a big place. It can be overwhelming.

Instead of chasing down each and every contest to see if they’re legit, it’s better to start out with a resource that lists the ones that are legit. I suggest The Writer’s Market. You can find it in the resources section of your local library, or you can subscribe online. It comes out every year, with invaluable information. They list agents (and tell you what they represent and how to approach them), legitimate publishers and how to approach them (most won’t talk to you without an agent, so that’s probably the best section to start with). They give you the contact information for magazines in which you can publish your stories and poems to get a foot in the door.

And they have a whole section of nothing but contests you can enter. What style (poem, shorts, etc), what genre (fiction, horror, erotica, lit fic, YA, etc), how much it costs to enter, and how to go about it.

Be careful, people. The publishing world is a wonderful place, but it’s not without its potholes.